So in my life I've had "stackables", front loaders and top loaders. I notice something very obvious and different here about the washing machines and was wondering if anybody could share with me what they know about this.

My washing machine in the states used a lot more water but the cycles were all a lot shorter. For example, a regular load in the US would take about 40 minutes from when the machine started to fill to the end of the spin cycle.

Here, while there is a quick setting for normal wash for 30 minutes, all the other settings can take more than 2 hours.

The front loader I have here is low sudsing and new (2 years old). I notice it uses a lot less water.

Questions: Does the cycle take longer because it uses less water? I would assume that the machine is "energy saver"?

I'm just curious about it.

I have no idea, but one thing I noticed is that the machine takes a very long time to heat up the water, so I wash mostly in 30 degree water & the cycles are more like 1hr 10 mins or 1hr 30 mins (depending on the weight).

I agree, I only use the short cycles, 30 - 40 minutes and only ever use the long cycle (90 c) for whites, which takes 2 hours. As you pointed out, it does seem to use minimal water.

I tried going for a long cycle but then my front tyre burst.

Cheers,
Nick

I think it's a variety of things... probably an internal water heater rather than hot and cold running water, different aggitation method, less water.

The biggest adjustment for me is that it doesn't take many towels (which we brought from the US) to fill up the washer.

I wash most of our clothes in either cold or 30 degrees, with some things like towels at 60. In the US I never used hot water, mostly warm or cold - and warm would probably be right around 40, hot would be somewhere between 60 and 90 (hot in the US is around 140 degrees F). I do everything on short cycle unless it's like cleaning cloths.

The dryers are interesting. I never realized that a condensation dryer existed till I moved here.